http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...ess&id=5157587

Mar. 27 - KGO - WiFi -- it's your connection, if not now, in the near
future, to the Internet. Of course, you want it whenever and wherever
at hot spots as well as not so hot spots, but the technology is not
quite there yet.

WiFi has enabled laptop users to connect to the Internet on the go.
The technology is designed to spread an Internet connection over a
short distance.

However, that's not good enough for these engineers and scientists at
Berkeley's Intel Research Lab. They undertook a project last year to
create a new kind of WiFi system that sends the signal over a long
distance -- up to 60 miles. The key to that is this prototype antenna.

Alan Mainwaring, Ph.D., Intel Lab Research Scientist: "So what this
basically is, is a reflector. So, the WiFi energy is radiated by this
element, and it reflects off this surface in such a way that a narrow
beam is formed, and this is what allows the energy to travel a greater
distance."

The goal is to provide Internet connections by WiFi to remote areas of
the world, affording students in the Amazon rainforest or in India to
have the same access to information as the rest of the world.

The system also simplifies the process of lining up the transmitter
and the receiving antenna for optimum signal strength. The technology
also could have applications here at home when a natural disaster
might strike.

WiFi with this new long-distance capability could be deployed quickly
to restore communications.

Kevin Fall, Ph.D., Intel Lab Principal Engineer: "This we can actually
roll in with a truck, put up an antenna on a tripod and do that sort
of thing, and a number of cities around the country have been looking
at these kinds of capabilities in order to help out the emergency
response system."

Intel engineers say another key benefit is the low cost. They project
the antennas they created will cost only $200 dollars.

This WiFi project is a great example of collaboration between a public
university and private industry. It's now being tested in Ghana, India
and Uganda.